Samsung Galaxy S23 long-term review

6 January 2024


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  • ?
  • Anonymous
  • I@H
  • 07 Jan 2024

newflesh, 07 Jan 2024It really is *small* when compared to all other phones nowa... moreI kind of have the same experience as you but with the less ideal generations from both brands, Zenfone 8 and Galaxy S22 (SD 888 and SD 8 Gen 1, yeah). But with my usage, both could last me a whole day, so it's not all bad for me.

I got less unlucky than some with my Zenfone 8; it went on bootloop only for 15 mins just once, never the full ram dump issue, haha. My only gripe with it was how poor the front camera was in low light. But handling it was much better than the Galaxy S22. Also, I'm missing the native call recorder and the option to lock apps individually with Asus. All cameras on the S22 seem to be better, though.

Would love to have more choices of small-ish phones in the midrange price segment. Got each Zenfone 8 and Galaxy S22 for under 450USD equivalent brand new. The only other small phone closer to this price available in my location is the iPhone SE 2022 and it's even 100USD equivalent more for half the storage.

    • N
    • Neph
    • 6jx
    • 07 Jan 2024

    I like the review and I agree with pretty much everything except praising its cameras.

    The photos are simply bad and tenfold worse than in my previous S20. Whole S23 series' photos are oversharpened - with tons of artificial oversharpening artifacts, especially on foliage (grass, leaves, branches, etc.) that turns green grass/leaves and bronze branches whitenish. Colors of the photos literally burn eyes and it's always difficult to distinguish fairly bright object with bright surrounding. And the last part - the noise. I just wonder if all reviewers forgot how good and noise-free photos look like or are paid by Samsung to praise their devices.

    The camera problem is fairly good described in S23 Ultra long-term review from GSM Arena. It applies to other S23 as well.

    In terms of camera - this is the WORST Samsung phone I've ever had. It's good to have great GCAM ports here that do simply AMAZING, but it's annoying to be forced to use it as its damn slow and can't work from the lock screen as it's third party app.

    In terms of performance, smoothness, screen and especially battery life - the best I've ever had and used. But - at least for me - it makes no difference if I wait 0.2 s or 1s to launch my app, or if there are occassional lags or if the battery is weak - we have powerbanks. We can't however, replace bad cameras. Period.

      LoneOwl, 07 Jan 2024Your post is literally justifying Apples bad practises lol.... moreI understand that you showed it to say that others do it too, the problem is that this is Samsung, they should be leading the pack, not half-assing stuff. I'm not justifying Apple, both the S23 and the iPhone 15 suck for their price, the S23 should've had better optics and the iPhone should've had HRR, the display itself is stellar tho. The problem I have is not with just the base storage but the price increase of each storage level option. That's scummy from Samsung, following in the footsteps of Apple. Google is basically android's Apple, they suck like them. Xiaomi on the other hand is just crazy, thinking many (if any) people will get their flagship phones if they're cut down like this. The 14 series rectifies that and the base 14 seems like a stellar offer now. The X90 Pro and the Oppo Find X6 (base model) are far superior phones to this at the same price. The Find X6 is for people who want zoom and the Vivo is for people who want a good main camera. Samsung is only relevant due to their availability and after sale help/its repairability which is an effect of being widely available.

        It doesn't qualify as “small phone” anymore.
        The rounded edges in A71 and S10 help make the phones feel smaller than they actually are.
        But now everyone is blindly copying flat edges from Apple, which make the grip even worse. Though Apple did copy from Sony Xperia first.

          jiyen235, 07 Jan 2024That's like justifying bad practices just cus "ev... moreYour post is literally justifying Apples bad practises lol.

          Also you missed my point that the reason i mentioned all the other companies, was to show that its not just Samsung that offers 128gb base storage on their cheaper flagships, but most other companies.

          Its like blaming Nothing for not offering MicroSD or 3.5mm headphone jack on their phone, when literally every other company(except sony)also does that.

            This phone is a beast. This phone has everything I want in a phone. It's great

              • ?
              • Anonymous
              • tZ0
              • 07 Jan 2024

              NOK6600, 07 Jan 2024im using S23 now.. im sorry to say, the 5 years old Xperi... morethe xz3 was awarded best display in 2018 .I remember there was an article about it published by wired.com..im not sure..
              xz3 display way better than S9+ , IP X and also other adroid flagship.Huawei come to closed that time.IP X the lowest score for the survey.
              The survey was conducted by 100 people display expert and xperia xz3 pawn all flagship for the best display in 2018. Old tech doesnt mean not good and new model doesnt mean better.its is what it is .

                • ?
                • Anonymous
                • mAP
                • 07 Jan 2024

                I got carpal tunnel and pinky tendonutis from an iphone 13 pro. It boggles my mind how most phones are just as big today - that is, much bigger than the iphone 13 and thats what everyone seems to want.

                  LoneOwl, 06 Jan 2024Since you havent done your research, let me tell you that b... moreThat's like justifying bad practices just cus "everyone else" does it.
                  >Xiaomi 13
                  It's a Xiaomi phone and a base flagship phone at that, only some chumps with money to burn will get it. Xiaomi's software might be smooth but it isn't the most polished and updates are few and far between.
                  >iPhones
                  Bro iPhones cut costs and everyone agrees they suck, you want Samsung to stoop down to their level??
                  >Oneplus 11
                  It's a flagship killer, this one makes sense, it cut costs to have a bigger display.
                  >Pixel 8
                  The pixel phones lol, absolute jokes. They're far overpriced for what they offer, Google thinks everyone will buy Gdrive storage if they give small storage phones.
                  >Xperia 5V
                  This is where you made a blunder, this phone can make do with 64 GB storage. Why? SD Card slot. You can store all your movies, videos, songs and photos on the SD card and have some essential apps on the main storage. Also, the Sony's sensor is world class and makes sense why it's going to be more expensive than this phone/provide 128 gb as its base option.

                  Anyways, as I said, Apple phones are getting close. The only major con is the lack of a 120 hz screen. But that isn't going to be an issue for the majority of people. Why? They're used to 60 hz, if they're used to it then they won't get hurt by the lack of HRR. I'm not justifying it, it's a horrible tactic, but if everything else is top notch then I have nothing to complain about.
                  >Chip
                  As if the chips matter, even if they did, Apple's chips are faster where it matters, the CPU. This 1 year old chip is faster than the S23's. If you wanna talk about GPU then go look at Genshin Impact benchmarks such as the ones by Golden Reviewer or Dame Tech. Games are better optimised for iPhones even if they have less GPU power, games nowadays are cpu intensive more than gpu and Samsung phones throttle just like iPhones.

                  So you're saying, offering the same base storage, having a superior camera experience (apart from the telephoto lens), having the same/better performance, better battery and similar charging doesn't mean they're getting closer? Look at the charging graphs, the iPhones and Samsungs are neck and neck till 50%/till 30 mins. Pretty sure they're neck and neck till 80%, then it takes 1 hour to complete the rest of the 20%. So your point about the charging is moot, your point about the processor is moot and your point about USB type 2.0, who cares? How many iPhone users transfer files to and from places and even if they do, how large are those? Seriously, Apple makes transferring files usually such a hassle people don't even bother.
                  Apple is closer than ever, the only thing that's actually horrible is the 60 hz display, it's gonna get fixed eventually or it'll be like this forever to keep a feature parity. So yeah, Samsung is complacent. They had 128 GB as their base storage back on the S10, yk what? That made sense, it was enough back then AND they had an SD card slot. Stop defending Samsung's dumb practices

                    • ?
                    • Anonymous
                    • rJq
                    • 07 Jan 2024

                    DBS, 06 Jan 2024Calling this gigantic phone "small" is ridiculous... more"Calling this gigantic phone "small" is ridiculous. That's like saying the White House is small if what you're comparing it with is Hampton Court"

                    It's one of the few smallest phone available now, for the past few years. So nothing wrong in calling it small. If everyone else is selling "Hampton Court", you could call the "White House" small.

                      • B
                      • Blowntoaster
                      • Ei6
                      • 07 Jan 2024

                      DBS, 06 Jan 2024Calling this gigantic phone "small" is ridiculous... moreA lot of whining you do I see.

                      If you don't like it, that is your opinion. Think the S23 is small enough for most small hands but the screen is big enough to be usable for most content and apps. The camera is great in my opinion: I have a S23 and S23+ in the house and the photos and videos are great. Better than what I see people taking on their iPhones.
                      Samsungs overall are great phones but you'll always have people with negative opinions that nitpick over small things that do not matter in the bigger picture of things.

                        jiyen235, 06 Jan 2024This phone should've been called the S23e and the S23+... moreNah, let the naming stay as it is.

                          Anonymous, 06 Jan 2024As for battery not as good as people say some A models better No shit, this has a much smaller battery than those.

                            It's actually quite a good small phone.

                              • m
                              • mcebi001
                              • gFI
                              • 07 Jan 2024

                              There are tons of iPhones smaller than 150mm and they sell them in huge sizes, android manufacturers are, let's face it, a bit of a jerk.

                                • D
                                • DBS
                                • s0h
                                • 07 Jan 2024

                                newflesh, 07 Jan 2024It really is *small* when compared to all other phones nowa... moreYou might want to re-read my first paragraph in its entirety ;)

                                  How zenfone is overpriced, in my country, Zenfone 10 is 200$ cheaper while offering better spec than the s23 FE. The battery and performance is buttery smooth. The update policy is the biggest con of the zenfone but android update barely changing anything for now

                                    im using S23 now.. im sorry to say, the 5 years old XperiaXZIII has better P oled screen when play HDR enchance video compared to my s23.Yes it is...

                                    Im not sure what secret ingredient Sony put in their first oled phone make it hard to beat by newest flagship phone. Im not saying sony win every category of display aspect but when come to video rendering Xperia xzIII produce better HDR effect and deep black level. My previous S9 which on same year also has better screen than s23 but still not catch to level of SONY Xperia XZIII. Thats all from me...Thank you.

                                      • S
                                      • Sridhar R
                                      • 7k3
                                      • 07 Jan 2024

                                      DBS, 06 Jan 2024Calling this gigantic phone "small" is ridiculous... moreThis phone is definitely comparatively smaller for this era Brother ......

                                        • f
                                        • felipecardel
                                        • Ggm
                                        • 07 Jan 2024

                                        switched from my 4yo Redmi K20 Pro in november. got a crazy good deal for the 512gb model (which is being dropped from the S24 lineup, sight). even better: here in my country we get the 25W charger bundled in the box, courtesy of 'our' FTC. :D

                                        this is a beast of a phone, and i can vouch for almost everything said in the review - though the lack of a Good Lock mention felt weird, since it can fix most of the UI issues brought up by the writer. DeX, another unique feature, should've been mentioned as well.

                                        from my experience, there are three things i miss:
                                        - screen: the pop-up camera and the uninterrupted display brought a 'wow' factor to the table, though the punch-hole is not intrusive at all and the symetrical, slim bezels all around make up for the ordinary feel of the screen;
                                        - paintjob: the color options are dull, and while the frosted back feels premium, i absolutely loved the blue and red K20 Pro paintjobs with their holographic effects. most might think that's a chinese trend best left in 2019, but i used to spend quite a few minutes simply admiring the phone;
                                        - brightness slider: a weird one for sure, but i don't like how the screen flares up to whatever level i touch on the slider instead of letting me drag it to incrementally raise the brightness. not the smoothest transition, coming from MIUI, but i'm sure i'll get used to it. the auto brightness is very competent though, so that's an issue that comes up maybe once a couple days.

                                        all in all, i hope Samsung keeps offering more and more customization options and attempts to match Google's software update policy. not that it's bad, of course - i'll probably be switching phones by the time mine is scheduled to stop getting security patches anyway.

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